Oi! Bent! No!

Marcus Bent. What can I say? Comedy name, son, but your last-minute equaliser for Everton against the clearly-superior-on-the-day Saints has robbed us of two desperately-needed points.

The run-in to the end of the season isn’t great:

• 22 February: West Brom (A)
• 26 February: Arsenal (H)
• 05 March: Tottenham (H)
• 19 March: Middlesbrough (A)
• 02 April: Chelsea (H)
• 09 April Blackburn (A)
• 16 April: Aston Villa (H)
• 19 April: Bolton (A)
• 24 April: Portsmouth (A)
• 30 April: Norwich (H)
• 07 May: Crystal Palace (A)
• 14 May: Man Utd (H)

You can write off the away games, probably, unless our form away from fortress St. Mary’s improves dramatically: we’ve had no away wins all season.

In the spirit of always looking on the bright side of life, though, I would offer these crumbs of comfort:

• We seem to raise our game against better teams. We played Everton off the park on Saturday, and destroyed LIverpool two weeks ago.
• We have still got to play West Brom, Norwich and Crystal Palace: two three six-pointers.
• Paul Smith is clearly a competent replacement for the injured Antti Niemi.
• Erm, that’s it.

Keep your fingers crossed, Saints Fans, it’s gonna be one heck of a ride. Man Utd at home on the last day of the season? Somebody pass me the calming pills, please…